Coaches Struggling beggining tumbling class

[qwop345]

Hi everyone! This is my first post on here, and I need help as a new coach (about 5 months in).

I'm only 16 years old and I'm quite tiny for my age and often get mistaken for being 12 years old. Although usually I make up for my young appearance by being confindent in the way I carry myself and how I talk to people. Anyway I'm saying this because in one of my classes I'm teaching is particularly difficult for me for multiple reasons. One being that there is 2 girls who are almost 13 but I feel look much older. That is not a problem itself except that these 2 girls tend to have side conversations about me and they make it very akward to coach them when they make comments about my appearence. I just try my best to ignore it and just coach them to the best of my abilty.

Secondly the other 2 girls in my class are 6&7. I am definitly more comfortable coaching these girls but the age differences within the group seem to be challenging for me since 2 girls need me to babysit them and also need a more fun enviornment while the older girls are more self-sufficient and serious. One of the younger girls is constantly telling me how bored she is, now usually in this situation I would play a game or make an obstacle course with stations incorporated but it is difficult to find something that all the girls will enjoy and benefit from. So Im looking fo rsome insight on how to structure my classes to accomodate all the girls.

Lastly, I have seen little to no improvments in their skills. Now I have only had 3 classes so far with the girls and we only meet 1x a week for 45 minutes, so obviously we already have limited time. But even within the time that we have the girls seem to not be able to take the corrections I give them. I have structured the class like I have done in my previous beginer tumbling class and it worked great and I saw some great improvments in the girls skills. But now what I have been doing does not seem to be working. The one older girl has a great cartwheel and I am working on getting her to perform a round-off off a panel mat but it just ends of looking like a cartwheel off the mat. I tell her to get her feet together as soon as she pushes off the mat and to push off the matt w/her shoulders but no matter how many times she tries, she just can't get it. So now I'm looking for drills to help her.

It's not only her struggling but it seems that the other girls can't even get remotly close to a handstand or cartwheel. I have them do it over little blocks and with mats that have the hand and feet positions but they can't seem grasp the concept of following the hands and feet on the mat. I'm honestly stuck because I have no idea what else to do when I have already explained it countless times in different variations. When I did gymnastics I was never stuck learning a handstand or cartwheel for long so idk what drills to do. I honestly feel like it is much easier for me to coach a little higher levels because at least they have good basics.

Anyway sorry for the long post and rant but to sum it up, I need help finding step by step drills for basic gymnastic drills like handstands, cartwheels, and roundoffs. Then I need advice about how to structure my class with girls who are far apart in age.

TIA

 

[emerson71]

Not being able to spot the older girls isn't ideal, but there are for sure some good drills you can set up for them. Handstands are mostly just strength and balance so having them do handstands on the wall is probably your best bet. For cartwheels: give them markers on the ground (or if you have a cartwheel mat with the markings already on it) and spot the younger girls in each phase of the cartwheel, pausing to make sure they get the feel for them (pause in the side straddle handstand and then turn their hips before coming down to their lunge. Sorry if that didn't make sense. You can always look up videos online for breaking the skill down for them. For roundoffs, I have come across this issue a lot (not understanding that they need to bring their feet together). I find that the best way to deal with this is to have them go to their knees onto a soft mat. You can also have them land in a push up shape so they don't have to worry about coming off the floor or landing upright.

I would talk to the owners of the club your at about the age differences in the class. I don't know you have enough kids in your gym to create 2 different classes for older and younger girls. Having this huge age differences and more importantly height difference makes coaching a lot harder. I also wanted to give you some advice on feeling like you should be coaching more advanced girls. I was a gymnast my entire life and I was really annoyed that I had to coach beginner level gymnastics and preschool classes because I felt like I could bring more to the table, and while I might have been coaching below my skillset I learned the most when I was coaching those beginner levels. Give it time, keep learning because you still have a lot to learn about the sport and coaching. You will eventually be able to work with those older girls, but you gotta learn how to teach the basics first. Keep your head up and keep learning!

 

[Dahlialover]

The way you describe the situation is very insightful and mature. You sound a lot older than 16! I recommend that you talk to your supervisor about these issues. You are in a difficult position and it’s appropriate to ask for support. As for drills, check out this video. Don’t judge the gymnasts progress (and your teaching) based on whether they can independently perform a handstand. Instead, look for improvements in how they perform the progressions and drills. Good luck!